Everything

It is easy to say,

"In Christ, I have everything."

But it is another thing completely to say,

"In Christ, I have everything," When Christ begins to be truly all you have.

When the things you rely on for support become unstable, when you cannot look to others for direction, but must make the decision based on your relationship with Christ and nothing else, that is when you realize, "All I have is Christ," and must learn to say, "In Him I have everything."

When all I have is Christ, I say yes to all He gives 

including the removal of good things, so He can give me the best.

The purging of my heart to give me His.

Difficulties to form His character in me.

I must decrease so He can increase,
 so I can say "Yes" to everything He is, and the abundant riches He has for me that exceed all I can even think request of His hand.

As He gently peels my flesh away and in return, forms in me His image, may I rejoice through the pain and say with my heart, "All I have is Christ!  And in Him, I have everything!"  

 There is only room for one of us.
Will it me me,
or Him?

"Now, Lord, I would be yours alone

And live so all might see

The strength to follow your commands

Could never come from me

O Father, use my ransomed life

In any way You choose

And let my song forever be

My only Boast is You

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ

Hallelujah! Jesus is my life"

Yes, All I have is Christ!

And that is enough.

Catching Up Again...

Hi there :)  Surprised to see me?!?!

I will do my utmost to see this blog does not decline into a series of "catching up " posts once a year, but here is another one simply because it is needed.  

Lets start with an update on River.

Most of you know I raised River for Leader dogs for the blind.  My responsibilities included teaching basic obedience and acclimating him to being out and about in public until he was about a year old.

It is hard to believe this cute little ball of fluff, floppy ears and all...

...Turned into this beautiful boy!

He was so much fun to train, and even more fun to take grocery shopping ;)  

In early November I took him in for another set of x-rays to check on a limping problem that was still giving him problems.  At four months it was diagnosed as pano (K-9 growing pains).  The new x-rays confirmed what I was afraid of.  River had elbow dysplasia, which disqualified him from the Leader dog program. Later that month He was re-homed and now lives with his half brother and (human) family with a large fenced in back yard!

Here is to my favorite dog to date. Yes, I miss him!

Other than that, life was pretty steady and low key until the end of September when I had the privilege of joining the catering crew for a Christian, action/adventure feature film being filmed here in Michigan.

(Now in post production.  Check it out at beyondthemaskmovie.com!)

Never has there been a more encouraging, fun, Christ-like, hard working, and crazy group of people to work with!  It truly was "deluxe" ;)

My family is now moving on to our next adventure, which may include a move several states away.  We are still waiting on the Lord and seeking His will for this situation.  While we may be in the "state" of limbo for now, we look forward to what God has in store for us, here, or elsewhere.

Waiting on Him,
~Mary~